Tom enjoys both painting, and working with the soil.

Artist:  Tom ha always been motivated to create, from whatever material is available.  We have paintings from his childhood on cardboard and wood.  When we lived in NYC in the 60's, he painted both on canvas that we brought back from Portugal, and whatever else he could find; cardboard, wood, and even newspaper.  Most of his paintings were "peoplescapes", as he called them, filled with crowds of faces. He also enjoyed creating collages and miniature pen and ink drawings, and charcoal, pencil and mixed media combinations.  We attended "Happenings" to meet other contemporary artists and see art works in progress.  His job also involved being around art, and he loved working at the Museum of Modern Art, both inside with the artwork, and outside in the sculpture garden.  

Then we moved to northern California where he is always inspired by nature, with the abundance of color, movement, and change.  For years, he painted watercolors, and produced many wood sculptures out of the burl wood that he has collected.  We built a studio on to our house, several years ago, and recently, he has been creating oil on canvas paintings.  Tom's paintings celebrate nature, as he sees it in his mind, using the colors, texture and movement that express his unique style.  His style is emotional and spontaneous, as he paints layers of color, in the "old masters" s technique to capture the both the image and the essence.  

                  Tom's older work can be seen on his website:  www.tomhesslerartcom.                  or Instagram page:  Tom Hessler Art

FARMER:  We moved out here to develop a homestead, to support ourselves with the produce from the land.  Tom would have the freedom to create art, and develop his own style, with whatever media he chose.  We fenced in and cultivated a vegetable garden and sold produce to local stores and restaurants,  We were able to get cuttings of trees from the Albert Etter orchards that he grafted on to hardy rootstock, and became the orchard that we have today.  We also grow cannabis, with a legal cultivation license from the State of California.  We work with our son and grandsons, and we are transitioning from farming to to art, for Tom to be able to focus on his art.

FARM

APPLES

Our orchard is a collection of apple varieties that we have grown for over 50 years.  Many of the varieties are apples developed by Albert Etter, a famous plant collector and hybridizer from the early 1900's.  His experimental research and development farm is near us, and we were able to get cuttings from these unique trees from his descendant, Mike Etter.  There is a photo of Mike and Tom "bench grafting" these cuttings onto rootstock, which became the trees that we still have today.  The painting is of the apple trees that grow right outside of Tom's painting studio.

We also grow cannabis here on our farm that is legally licensed to cultivate cannabis.  The cannabis plants occupy the space in the orchard between the trees.  We grow everything using organic growing methods and have a very diverse garden, combining permaculture with regenerative farming techniques,  We grow the highest quality sungrown cannabis, using seeds from plant strains that we have developed, and mother's to provide clones.  The plants are grown directly in native soil, amended with organic nutrients, and we supply the water for the cannabis from a rain catchment pond.  This micro-climate in coastal Northern California resembles the Mediterranean climate of hot dry days and cool nights, which is ideal for herbs.  If you are interested in our farm, please visit our Instagram and Facebook pages for Amaranth Farms.  We have photos of our production process, from seeds or clones grown in our nursery, to transplanting outdoors, cultivating, irrigating, harvesting, drying, and processing.  As we are getting older, our son and grandsons are taking over the cannabis business, for Tom to have more time to concentrate on his art, and for me to present his artwork to the world. 

 If you are interested in more information about our cannabis, please visit our website: www.amaranthfarms.com., or Instagram Page, Amaranth Farms.